A novel hierarchical heterostructure of hollow La2Ti2O7/In2O3 with strong interface interaction for photocatalytic antibiotic degradation.

[Display omitted] • La 2 Ti 2 O 7 -In 2 O 3 photocatalyst has been constructed via the interface band structure engineering. • La 2 Ti 2 O 7 -In 2 O 3 shows excellent photocatalytic activity on CIP degradation with good photostability and recyclability. • The interfacial engineering accelerates the charge direction transfer process. • La 2 Ti 2 O 7 -In 2 O 3 can generate ·OH and ·O 2 – efficiently via Z-scheme mechanism. Interfacial regulation in solar-light-responsive heterostructures is considered an effective strategy to address efficient charge transfer. However, the conscious design of interfacial engineering is still a great challenge. Herein, sandwich-like La 2 Ti 2 O 7 /In 2 O 3 hierarchical tubular heterostructure was reasonably designed to modulate the interface structure for efficient photocatalytic ciprofloxacin degradation. Systematic investigations reveal that the Z-scheme charge transfer mechanism is affirmed using the electron paramagnetic resonance spectra, density functional theory calculations and in-situ irradiated XPS spectra. The hierarchical tubular heterostructure is responsible for improved light absorption and active sites, while the strong interfacial interaction can induce the separation and migration of photogenerated charges. Thus, the optimized photocatalyst exhibits high ciprofloxacin degradation rate of 98.2% in 100 min with a pseudo-first-order rate constant of 0.0408 min−1, which is about 98.05-fold and 38.86-fold of the pristine In 2 O 3 and La 2 Ti 2 O 7 , respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]